Using Your Strengths for Ministry: 2018 EfM Graduates Retreat

April 27–29, 2018

Education for Ministry (EfM) graduates will gather in a Circles of Trust® format at the beautiful St. Mary's Sewanee retreat center in Sewanee, Tenn. to delve into the significance of individual talents as indicated by the Gallup StrengthsFinder® (SF) assessment. Elsa Bakkum, EfM associate director for training will facilitate.

The StrengthsFinder, also known as the StrengthsQuest, was developed by Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. building on the Positive Psychology movement. Over 13 million people have discovered language for their individual talents using this tool. Its principles are as follows:

Each person’s talents are enduring and unique,

Everyone has talents,

Each person’s greatest room for growth is in the area of their greatest strength.

Short presentations will invite participants to name, claim, and own their strengths for use in ministry. Individual reflection time will be ample. The level of participation in the Circle of Trust groups will be according to each person's preference.

Bluff view at St. Mary's Sewanee

Advance Preparation

Completion of the StrengthsFinder Assessment to determine top 5 Strengths. A code will be given for access to the assessment.

Elizabeth Wilson, assistant director of Career & Leadership Development at the University of the South will facilitate two evening sessions using Liberating Structures. Wilson says, “Liberating Structures introduce tiny shifts in the way we meet, plan, decide and relate to one another. They put the innovative power once reserved for experts only in hands of everyone.” Learn more at liberatingstructures.com.